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In this varied collection of essays, Walter
Brueggemann provides a lens into biblical teachings that speak to our present
age of fake news, lies, and alternate realities. Compiled and edited by Louis
Stulman, professor of religious studies at the University of Findlay, these
essays engage a common theme of truth and hope. As Brueggemann writes in the
preface, “There is no doubt that the prophetic tradition regularly engages in
truth-telling in order to expose social reality as a systemic act of ‘falseness’
that contradicts the purposes of God. The prophetic tradition of Jeremiah, for
instance, is preoccupied with truth-telling that exposes ‘falseness.’ … The
prophet exposes the deceit of dominant culture.” The prophetic tradition then
moves from truth-telling to “hope-telling,” grounding hope both in unmasking
corrupt systems, and in the faithfulness of God to bring about a new way. In
Brueggemann’s words, “There can be no hope until truth is told.”

Readers will find this collection of essays to be
theologically rooted in the concept of prophetic tradition as a means of
truth-telling and bringing about justice and restoration. Brueggemann explores
how, apart from God’s purposes, truth-telling is nothing more than harping, and
hope-telling is only wishful thinking.